At today’s Pima County Board of Supervisors’ meeting District 3 Supervisor Sharon Bronson moved to appoint State Senator Jorge Luis Garcia’s widow Maria De La Luz Garcia to fulfill his unexpired term in the Arizona state senate in LD 27. The motion was seconded by District 5 Supervisor Richard Elias, who said that Maria was “well-versed in legislative issues.” The vote was 5-0 for Maria Garcia’s appointment.

Mrs. Garcia said she was “honored to fill her husband’s seat” and that Jorge “loved serving”, and that she would “do her best to represent the constituents” of LD 27.

Senator Garcia died on October 15, 2010 from a heart attack at age 57 (click here for my blog in memory of Jorge). He was running for one of 2 seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission and his name remains on today’s ballot.

Other nominees submitted by the 39 District 27 precinct committeepersons were two House primary candidates- High School math teacher Bob Gilby (husband of Donna Branch-Gilby who challenged Supervisor Sharon Bronson in the September, 2008 primary) and Sami Hamed, an aide to Congressman Raul Grijalva. Both Gilby and Hamed lost their races in the Democratic primary for 2 seats in the LD 27 House on August 24, 2010, to fellow Democrats Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate. (Gonzales and Saldate face opposition from a Republican, a Green, and an Independent candidate in today’s General Election.)

LD 27 House Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford is running for this State Senate seat and will likely be elected in today’s General Election, as she faces only write-in opposition. She will then be sworn in to this office in January, 2011.

Maria Garcia is a manufacturing manager at Raytheon, and was married to Jorge for 37 years. They had three children and four grandchildren.

Maria and Jorge Luis Garcia, courtesy of the Garcia family

On KUAT Channel 6 tonight at 6:30 p.m. is the Arizona Illustrated televised debate between the two chairs of the Pima County Democratic Party (Jeff Rogers) and the Pima County Republican Party (Bob Westerman). Rogers is a practicing attorney, and Westerman is a retired manager at Raytheon Missile Systems. Westerman ran unsuccessfully for public office in November, 2008 for LD 27 State Senate.

Hear what they have to say as we head into Tuesday’s Arizona primary election. Their debate discussion is timely, and there’s not a lot of common ground between them.

Chairs of the lesser known Pima County Libertarian Party and Green Party of Pima County were not included. I wrote about these four political parties back in January (click here).

View this debate which is already online here: www.ondemand.azpm.org.

And for you Independents (with growing numbers in Arizona) you can choose to vote in the Democratic, Republican, or Green Party primaries on Tuesday. Both Rogers and Westerman do address the reasons for this increase in registration of “Independents” or “No Party affiliation”.

Vote wisely! Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. If you have questions about your polling place call the Pima County Recorder’s Office at (520) 740-4330, or go online to www.recorder.pima.gov.

Jeff Rogers, Democratic Chair

Bob Westerman